The current situationMost native speakers of Yucatec Maya live in poor, rural areasMost have some schooling, but most schooling is aimed at teaching students to read, write, and speak SpanishOver time, it is likely the number of speakers of Yucatec Maya will decrease and the language may die

Linguistic anthropologists?Linguistic anthropologists tend to value linguistic diversity, minimally arguing that there is a lot to be learned about the relationship between language and culture by studying as many languages and cultures as possible.Anthropologists in general tend to worry that the loss of a group's language will negatively affect other aspects of its culture as well.

Educated Maya activists?These are Maya who have either been taught, or have taught themselves, to read and write Maya. They worry that the language will be lost unless more and more people start to read and write it.Many of these activists are "purists", in that they seek to establish a "pure" way of writing Maya--a way of writing the language that, for instance, removes the many Spanish words that have, over the centuries, found their way into everyday spoken Maya.

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